Week 18: Broken Things to Mend

We have been working on improving ourselves the past few weeks, trying to become more Christ-like. I know that some of you have probably had thoughts similar to mine, thoughts of inadequacy, fear or trepidation to change. That is okay. I hope some of you have also had some wonderful experiences of conversion and change as I have. There have been ups and downs I will not lie to you. I have felt the storms wage upon me and the sweet rescue that comes right before the ship sinks. Through it all I have learned that I am dearly cared for and watched over by a divine love and power beyond my own. My sincere and desperate prayers have been answered. My heart has been filled with love from on high. My mind has received the tender whisperings of the Holy Ghost. The darkness at times was so thick and scary that the only thing I could do was just believe. We have been told "be not afraid only believe". Believe that you don't have to do it alone. Believe that you are better than you think you are. Believe that light will come. Believe that you are helping others more than you may be aware of. Believe that if you come unto Christ you will be made whole. He will not fail you!

*Take time to listen to the first song in the playlist. I thought it went very well with the talk this week.

MP3, Text, Video Link

Broken Things to Mend

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

When He says to the poor in spirit, "Come unto me," He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up.
The first words Jesus spoke in His majestic Sermon on the Mount were to the troubled, the discouraged and downhearted. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," He said, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."1 Whether you are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or among the tens of thousands listening this morning who are not of our faith, I speak to those who are facing personal trials and family struggles, those who endure conflicts fought in the lonely foxholes of the heart, those trying to hold back floodwaters of despair that sometimes wash over us like a tsunami of the soul. I wish to speak particularly to you who feel your lives are broken, seemingly beyond repair.
To all such I offer the surest and sweetest remedy that I know. It is found in the clarion call the Savior of the world Himself gave. He said it in the beginning of His ministry, and He said it in the end. He said it to believers, and He said it to those who were not so sure. He said to everyone, whatever their personal problems might be:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."2
In this promise, that introductory phrase, "come unto me," is crucial. It is the key to the peace and rest we seek. Indeed, when the resurrected Savior gave His sermon at the temple to the Nephites in the New World, He began, "Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."3
When Andrew and John first heard Christ speak, they were so moved they followed Him as He walked away from the crowd. Sensing He was being pursued, Jesus turned and asked the two men, "What seek ye?" They answered, "Where dwellest thou?" And Christ said, "Come and see." The next day He found another disciple, Philip, and said to him, "Follow me."4 Just a short time later He formally called Peter and others of the new Apostles with the same spirit of invitation. Come, "follow me,"5 He said.
It seems clear that the essence of our duty and the fundamental requirement of our mortal life is captured in these brief phrases from any number of scenes in the Savior's mortal ministry. He is saying to us, "Trust me, learn of me, do what I do. Then, when you walk where I am going," He says, "we can talk about where you are going, and the problems you face and the troubles you have. If you will follow me, I will lead you out of darkness," He promises. "I will give you answers to your prayers. I will give you rest to your souls."
My beloved friends, I know of no other way for us to succeed or to be safe amid life's many pitfalls and problems. I know of no other way for us to carry our burdens or find what Jacob in the Book of Mormon called "that happiness which is prepared for the saints."6
So how does one "come unto Christ" in response to this constant invitation? The scriptures give scores of examples and avenues. You are well acquainted with the most basic ones. The easiest and the earliest comes simply with the desire of our heart, the most basic form of faith that we know. "If ye can no more than desire to believe," Alma says, exercising just "a particle of faith," giving even a small place for the promises of God to find a home—that is enough to begin.7 Just believing, just having a "molecule" of faith—simply hoping for things which are not yet seen in our lives, but which are nevertheless truly there to be bestowed8—that simple step, when focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, has ever been and always will be the first principle of His eternal gospel, the first step out of despair.
Second, we must change anything we can change that may be part of the problem. In short we must repent, perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary. We thank our Father in Heaven we are allowed to change, we thank Jesus we can change, and ultimately we do so only with Their divine assistance. Certainly not everything we struggle with is a result of our actions. Often it is the result of the actions of others or just the mortal events of life. But anything we can change we should change, and we must forgive the rest. In this way our access to the Savior's Atonement becomes as unimpeded as we, with our imperfections, can make it. He will take it from there.
Third, in as many ways as possible we try to take upon us His identity, and we begin by taking upon us His name. That name is formally bestowed by covenant in the saving ordinances of the gospel. These start with baptism and conclude with temple covenants, with many others, such as partaking of the sacrament, laced throughout our lives as additional blessings and reminders. Teaching the people of his day the message we give this morning, Nephi said: "Follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, . . . with real intent, . . . take upon you the name of Christ. . . . Do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer [will] do."9
Following these most basic teachings, a splendor of connections to Christ opens up to us in multitudinous ways: prayer and fasting and meditation upon His purposes, savoring the scriptures, giving service to others, "succor[ing] the weak, lift[ing] up the hands which hang down, . . . strengthen[ing] the feeble knees."10 Above all else, loving with "the pure love of Christ," that gift that "never faileth," that gift that "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, [and] endureth all things."11 Soon, with that kind of love, we realize our days hold scores of thoroughfares leading to the Master and that every time we reach out, however feebly, for Him, we discover He has been anxiously trying to reach us. So we step, we strive, we seek, and we never yield.12
My desire today is for all of us—not just those who are "poor in spirit" but all of us—to have more straightforward personal experience with the Savior's example. Sometimes we seek heaven too obliquely, focusing on programs or history or the experience of others. Those are important but not as important as personal experience, true discipleship, and the strength that comes from experiencing firsthand the majesty of His touch.
Are you battling a demon of addiction—tobacco or drugs or gambling, or the pernicious contemporary plague of pornography? Is your marriage in trouble or your child in danger? Are you confused with gender identity or searching for self-esteem? Do you—or someone you love—face disease or depression or death? Whatever other steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven’s promises. In that regard Alma's testimony is my testimony: "I do know," he says, "that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions."13
This reliance upon the merciful nature of God is at the very center of the gospel Christ taught. I testify that the Savior’s Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair.14 From the beginning, trust in such help was to give us both a reason and a way to improve, an incentive to lay down our burdens and take up our salvation. There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, "beyond [his] own."15 The Savior reminds us that He has "graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands."16 Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, "Come unto me," He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way.
Brothers and sisters, whatever your distress, please don't give up and please don't yield to fear. I have always been touched that as his son was departing for his mission to England, Brother Bryant S. Hinckley gave young Gordon a farewell embrace and then slipped him a handwritten note with just five words taken from the fifth chapter of Mark: "Be not afraid, only believe."17 I think also of that night when Christ rushed to the aid of His frightened disciples, walking as He did on the water to get to them, calling out, "It is I; be not afraid." Peter exclaimed, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Christ's answer to him was as it always is every time: "Come," He said. Instantly, as was his nature, Peter sprang over the vessel's side and into the troubled waters. While his eyes were fixed upon the Lord, the wind could toss his hair and the spray could drench his robes, but all was well—he was coming to Christ. It was only when his faith wavered and fear took control, only when he removed his glance from the Master to look at the furious waves and the ominous black gulf beneath, only then did he begin to sink into the sea. In newer terror he cried out, "Lord, save me."
Undoubtedly with some sadness, the Master over every problem and fear, He who is the solution to every discouragement and disappointment, stretched out His hand and grasped the drowning disciple with the gentle rebuke, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"18
If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended.
In Nazareth, the narrow road,That tires the feet and steals the breath,Passes the place where once abodeThe Carpenter of Nazareth.
And up and down the dusty wayThe village folk would often wend;And on the bench, beside Him, layTheir broken things for Him to mend.
The maiden with the doll she broke,The woman with the broken chair,The man with broken plough, or yoke,Said, "Can you mend it, Carpenter?"
And each received the thing he sought,In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;The broken thing which each had broughtReturned again a perfect whole.
So, up the hill the long years through,With heavy step and wistful eye,The burdened souls their way pursue,Uttering each the plaintive cry:
"O Carpenter of Nazareth,This heart, that's broken past repair,This life, that's shattered nigh to death,Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?"
And by His kind and ready hand,His own sweet life is woven throughOur broken lives, until they standA New Creation—"all things new."
"The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,Mould Thou into the perfect part,O, Carpenter of Nazareth!"19
May we all, especially the poor in spirit, come unto Him and be made whole, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, amen.
NOTES
1. Matthew 5:3.2. Matthew 11:28–29.3. 3 Nephi 12:3; emphasis added.4. John 1:35–39, 43.5. See Matthew 4:19.6. See 2 Nephi 9:43.7. See Alma 32:27; emphasis added.8. See Alma 32:21.9. 2 Nephi 31:13, 17.10. D&C 81:5.11. Moroni 7:47, 46, 45.12. See Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses," in The Complete Poetical Works of Tennyson (1898), 89.13. Alma 36:3.14. See Alma 7:11–12.15. "Lord, I Would Follow Thee," Hymns, no. 220.16. 1 Nephi 21:16.17. Mark 5:36.18. Matthew 14:27–31; emphasis added.19. George Blair, "The Carpenter of Nazareth," in Obert C. Tanner, Christ's Ideals for Living (Sunday School manual, 1955), 22.